


Shot Through the Heart

by Ultra



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Leverage, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Best Friends, Bows & Arrows, Crossover, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, Post-Series, Romance, Sexy Times, Sparring, Teaching, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-11 13:57:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2070885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Parker is very proud of her latest steal but may need a little training to be a more literal Robin Hood. Eliot is happy to lend a hand, but getting close to Parker after holding back so long might lead to him learning as much as she does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shot Through the Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kitty_Nebula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty_Nebula/gifts).



> Had to get the Leverage muses back into gear to write this for my dear friend Kitty_Nebula on the occasion of her birthday. I know very little about Arrow but enough about Avengers to throw in some crossover type references, and I hope in the end it all makes sense and the story reads well. Happy birthday, honey :)

It was a good thing that Eliot Spencer had quick reactions. They had served him well over the years, saved his life and those of others more times than he could count. Of course, on this occasion it wasn’t just his own speed and skill that was in play. Parker was just as good as he was, that was why she amazed him so much. One second he was approaching her from behind, the next there was an arrow to his throat, but thanks to both of their quick reactions, nobody got hurt.

“Damnit, Parker!” he cursed, shifting back away from the point of the arrow just a mere inch from his jugular, his body having automatically dropped into a fighting stance without him even meaning for it to happen.

“What?” she shrugged like it was nothing, lowering the bow in her hands. “You taught me not to sneak up on an armed person unless you were ready for a fight. You should take your own advice,” she smirked annoyingly.

Eliot growled low in his throat and then smirked right back at her. That should’ve been her first clue as to what was coming next, but she had been thrown off-guard as she so often was by Eliot lately. One minute she was stood tall with her weapon in her hands, the next she was on the ground and her hitter friend was stood over her, with an arrow pointing at her heart.

“Shouldn’t play with weapons that you can’t handle, Parker. Thought I taught you that too,” he reminded her.

He tossed the bow and arrow aside then, reached out a hand to help her up from the ground. Parker didn’t take it, instead diving away from him to retrieve her new toys and then rolling up onto her feet. He really had taught her well, so many skills to build on top of those she already had.

A lot had changed since Eliot and Parker met, six years ago now in the windy city. From Chicago to LA, and Boston to Portland, from a team of four to five and down to three, through his dating a string of women and her dating Hardison. Other relationships ended, and yet this one friendship held firm. They were an unlikely pair of sparring partners, confidantes, allies, friends, and yet they had always been. In spite of their closeness, they could still piss each other off like nobody else.

“I don’t toss your weapons around,” Parker muttered looking unimpressed as she checked over her newest favourite find.

“Only ‘cause I don’t let you, darlin’,” Eliot rolled his eyes. “Where’d you get that thing anyway?”

The fact that she didn’t answer him, turned away and went right back to setting up a shot down the length of the gym, proved she hadn’t gained it through fair means.

“Parker,” he growled, her name coming out like a warning as it often did when she was being a pain. “Where’d you get the bow, Parker?” he asked her too seriously.

“I didn’t steal it exactly,” she replied, eyes still focused on the target she planned to aim for. “I just... stumbled across it.”

Eliot knew what that meant. Technically she didn’t break in anywhere with a plan to take it but she still stole it. Most likely somebody put it down somewhere and turned their back for all of three-point-five seconds, that was all it took with Parker. He could bust her on it, but Eliot didn’t really see the point. The kind of bow she was holding in her hands was specialised. The types of people who could afford something that fancy could also afford a replacement without issue. It wasn’t the end of the world that she took it, and getting mad at her wouldn’t achieve anything. Besides, the world was changing. It wouldn’t hurt for her to be adept with another weapon, especially after the stories he heard coming out of Starling City and New York.

“Trust you to take the Robin Hood title too seriously,” he muttered as he wandered over, interrupting Parker before she could take her shot.

There was no chance of her hitting the target anyway, and every chance of her hurting herself from going about this all the wrong way. Without a moment’s pause, he reached to take the bow from her hands again, ignoring her wimper of annoyance. It was already set up all but perfectly, which was strange but a good thing. Eliot eyed Parker carefully and then relented and gave the bow back to her. There would be no peace until she got to try out her new ‘toy’ and at least with him here she would do so safely, he would see to that.

“C’mere,” he said suddenly close to her ear as he moved up behind her. “Any idiot can shoot a bow, but most can’t do it fast and on target, that’s the trick to the whole thing,” he explained, putting his hands over Parker’s as he moved her fingers just so.

Parker nodded vaguely, allowed her hands to be manipulated. There was no way she would let anybody else be this close to her, except maybe Hardison and that was different. For all that they had dated, for as close as they had been, nothing ever made her feel the same as being in this kind of situation with Eliot. Sophie had always said that the term intimate didn’t have to describe getting naked or sexy. Sometimes the most intimate moments were seemingly inconsequential to anybody who might see them, but for those involved, it was very different.

“Are you concentratin’?” asked Eliot, startling Parker from a strange moment of hazy distraction. “’Cause we’re not doing this if you’re not.”

“I’m concentrating!” she told him snippily, forcing herself to do just that.

The truth was that Eliot had to keep talking and reminding himself that the task at hand was the point here as Parker’s soft warm body pressed up against his own. There was no choice but to be this close, and he’d almost forgotten how good it felt. He made a particular point of keeping his distance in a physical sense for as long as Parker and Hardison were dating. Even sparring on the mats suddenly seemed wrong when it was somebody else’s girl landing on top of him and all. He kept up her training, but they went about things differently. It had been literally years since he had deliberately got this intimately close with her, but it was a while now since that other relationship between his team-mates had devolved back to friendship by mutual agreement. Eliot knew he was probably a fool putting himself in temptations way again, he couldn’t help himself. In his head he told himself he was just teaching Parker a useful new skill and this was the only way to do it right. In his heart, he knew he was a liar.

“Okay,” he said, clearing his throat. “Now, draw back, put this thumb straight out right here, and keep your eye on the target,” he encouraged her, gently moving her head until her chin was tucked in and her stance was just right. “Remember, the bow is just an extension of your arm.”

Parker swallowed hard. Right now it felt like she and Eliot were as connected as she was to the bow, and she didn’t mind that at all, except it was making that focusing thing he had been talking about very difficult. Blinking hard she looked down the room towards the target, tried to clear her mind of everything, but it didn’t come easy. Eliot’s heart beating against her back seemed to match Parker’s own and every time he spoke, his warm breath tickled in her ear.

“Now, you ready?” he checked.

“Yes,” she said too softly.

“Let her fly,” he smiled.

She felt his expression even though she couldn’t see it as the arrow shot from the bow and flew to the target, landing slightly off centre. Still, it was a hell of a shot for a first try. A shiver ran though Parker’s body and she couldn’t have said for sure if it was the thrill of a shot well fired or something else.

“That felt good,” she said anyway, since it was true enough.

Turning to glance at Eliot, she found his face very close to her own. She ought to have known he was still there, she did know, and yet somehow it came as a surprise to find her eyes meeting his so closely.

Eliot meant to move. He had no need to still be standing there, with Parker’s body pressed up against his own, his hands still over hers on the bow. His fingers slid down her arm and she reacted with no alarm, just a flicker of her eyelids that had to mean something. She was barely breathing and it was only then that Eliot realised he was having the same problem.

“Parker...” he began, not really sure what else he planned to say and not getting the chance to figure it out as suddenly she crushed her lips against his own.

It was a brief moment, but searing hot and full of years of passion never spoken or acted upon before. When it ended, as abruptly as it began, neither knew how to explain or even speak at all. Parker wore a puzzled expression for a moment, then cleared her throat and very deliberately moved.

“I guess I need more practice with this,” she said, gesturning with the bow still clasped tight in her hands even after their electrifying kiss.

“Probably,” Eliot agreed, pushing his hair back off his face, almost unnerved by what was going on here, since apparently they weren’t going to talk about it. “But you’re a natural with this kind of thing, darlin’, so I don’t think you’ll need much training, unless you want to get into kyudo.”

“What’s that?” she wondered aloud.

Eliot smiled - his Parker was always curious. Maybe that was what the kiss had been about for her, just to see what it would be like with him. He had his own curiosities about Parker and how different things could be with her. He had never spoken of it, never made a move. It had seemed wrong when the team began and worse when she was dating Hardison. There was nothing stopping them now and yet for once in his life, Eliot knew he had to wait and let the other person make the first move. Maybe that was what Parker had just done, he really wasn’t sure. He shook his head free of those thoughts and answered the question she just asked.

“Kyudo is a perfect mix of archery and martial arts,” he explained, going over to the target to retrieve Parker’s first arrow. “Emphasises focus and co-ordination. Pretty specialist skill, but I know a couple of guys that happened to teach it well,” he smirked slightly, recalling those days under the tutelage of Yao Fei and later honing his skills alongside his buddy, Barton.

“You could teach me, right?” asked Parker in earnest, but there was something in the way she looked at him that made Eliot wonder if they were even talking about fight skills anymore.

“Depends,” he told her. “How are your basics these days?”

Parker smiled brightly putting her bow out of the way and then repositioning herself in the centre of the mats, battle-ready. Eliot didn’t need telling she was prepared to be tested, and he wasted no time in attacking. Parker deflected and turned away just as he taught her years ago now. A lot of it was muscle memory these days, but she hadn’t lost any of the skills he had helped her hone over time. It was hard not to be proud of his student, and tougher still not to feel differently about how close their bodies were after what she seemed determined to start.

Deciding a further test was in order, Eliot gave Parker the chance to pin him to the ground and she did so with little effort. Sat straddling his hips she was both beautiful and victorious, if not a little puzzled by how she managed such a feat. Eliot looked up at her with a smile playing at his lips, just waiting to see what she would do. She seemed to read his look just right, a skill she had developed over the years, more with Eliot than anyone. In a moment, she eagerly leant down to kiss him again. This was what she wanted, that much was abundantly clear, and Eliot didn’t see the point in denying her or himself anymore. His arms went around her, pulled her body down on top of him as her fingers tangled in his hair and they rolled over and over, still almost managing to keep up their sparring practise whilst indulging themselves at the same time.

Parker had never been so glad of stealing something in her life as she was that bow and arrow, and Eliot didn’t need to know that she already knew how to shoot it before he ever walked into the room.

The End


End file.
